THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA (1995)

THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA (Warner Bros., PG) This well-made Hallmark Hall of Fame-ish family drama about the luck and pluck of striking oil in the Depression-era Texas Dustbowl is a Clint Eastwood family affair: He produced it, his erstwhile significant other Frances Fisher stars in it (along with Robert Duvall and Aidan Quinn), and their baby daughter, Francesca Ruth Eastwood, makes an appearance. Duvall, that fine interpreter of old coots, is dang good as Mr. Cox, a dreamer with a nose for black gold; Fisher and Quinn play the hard-working farm couple on whose unpromising land Cox pins his hopes. This is an old-fashioned movie, told in an old-fashioned way by director James Keach from a sturdy narrative by Philip Railsback. And aside from the corny voice-over by an old woman that opens and closes the picture -- she was one of the far mer's young daughters when the story took place -- the machinery chugs efficiently. (Bonus for Quinn-lovers: This is his best work in a long time, and he looks fab.) B+

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